Die Bäuerin füttert die Kühe im Stall.

The female farmer feeds the cows in the stable.

Breakdown of Die Bäuerin füttert die Kühe im Stall.

• in: in
• dem: the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• die Kuh: the cow
• die Bäuerin: the female farmer
• der Stall: the stable
• füttern: to feed

Questions & Answers about Die Bäuerin füttert die Kühe im Stall.

Why is it Die Bäuerin and not something like Der Bauer?

Bäuerin is the specifically female form of Bauer (Bauer = farmer (male or generic), Bäuerin = female farmer).

• The ending -in is the usual marker for a feminine person-noun in German (like Lehrer → Lehrerin).
• Because Bäuerin is grammatically feminine, it takes the feminine article die in the nominative singular: die Bäuerin.
• Der Bauer would mean “the (male) farmer.”

Why are Bäuerin, Kühe, and Stall capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of their position in the sentence.

• Bäuerin (farmer), Kühe (cows), and Stall (barn/stable) are all nouns, so they are written with a capital first letter.
• Verbs like füttert and articles like die or im are not capitalized, unless they begin a sentence.

What does füttert mean exactly, and why isn’t it füttern?

The verb is füttern = to feed (an animal).

• füttern is the infinitive (dictionary form).
• füttert is the 3rd person singular present tense form of füttern.
• The subject is die Bäuerin (she), so the verb must be sie füttert → “she feeds.”

Conjugation (present):

• ich füttere
• du fütterst
• er/sie/es füttert
• wir füttern
• ihr füttert
• sie füttern

Why is it die Kühe and not den Kühen?

Kühe is the plural of Kuh (cow). In the sentence, the cows are the direct object of the verb “to feed”: The farmer is feeding the cows.

• Direct objects in German take the accusative case.
• For plural nouns with the definite article, nominative and accusative are both die:
  
  • Nominative plural: die Kühe – the cows (as subject)
  • Accusative plural: die Kühe – the cows (as object)

Den Kühen would be dative plural (“to/for the cows”), which you would use in a different structure, e.g. Sie gibt den Kühen Wasser. – “She gives water to the cows.”

What exactly does im Stall mean, and how is it formed?

Im Stall means “in the barn/stable”.

• It is a contraction of in dem Stall:
  
  • in (in) + dem (the, dative masculine/neuter) → im.
• Stall is masculine (der Stall in the nominative).
• After in you use dative when expressing location (“where?”), so you get in dem Stall → im Stall.

Why is im Stall in the dative case and not accusative?

The preposition in can take either dative or accusative, depending on meaning:

• Dative → location (“where?”)
  
  • Die Bäuerin füttert die Kühe im Stall.
    → She is feeding them in the barn (location, stationary).
• Accusative → direction/movement (“to where?”)
  
  • Die Bäuerin bringt die Kühe in den Stall.
    → She is bringing the cows into the barn (movement to a place).

In your sentence, the action is happening at a location (in the barn), so dative (im Stall) is used.

Can I change the word order, for example say Im Stall füttert die Bäuerin die Kühe?

Yes, that word order is correct and common.

German main clauses are verb-second (V2): the conjugated verb is in the second position, but the first position can be various elements:

• Die Bäuerin füttert die Kühe im Stall.
  
  • [1] Die Bäuerin – [2] füttert – […]
• Im Stall füttert die Bäuerin die Kühe.
  
  • [1] Im Stall – [2] füttert – […]
• Die Kühe füttert die Bäuerin im Stall. (unusual emphasis, but grammatically correct)

The meaning remains mostly the same, but the emphasis shifts to whatever you put first.

Could I say Die Bäuerin füttert Kühe im Stall without die before Kühe?

Yes, that is grammatically correct, but the nuance changes:

• Die Bäuerin füttert die Kühe im Stall.
  → The farmer is feeding the cows (a specific group already known from context).
• Die Bäuerin füttert Kühe im Stall.
  → The farmer feeds cows in the barn (cows in general, or not a specific group).

German articles often signal whether you mean specific / known things (die Kühe) or some/unspecified things (Kühe).

What is the singular of Kühe, and why does it have an umlaut?

The singular is die Kuh (cow), and the plural is die Kühe (cows).

• The vowel changes from u to ü – this is a common plural pattern: U → Ü plus an -e ending.
• Examples with similar pattern:
  
  • der Schuh → die Schuhe (here no umlaut)
  • die Mutter → die Mütter
  • die Kuh → die Kühe

So the umlaut is just part of the plural formation of this noun; it’s not optional.

How do you pronounce the ä in Bäuerin and the ü in Kühe?

They are fronted vowel sounds that don’t exist in the same way in English:

• ä (as in Bäuerin)

  • Often close to the “e” in “bed”, but a bit tenser.
  • Bäu- is actually a combination: äu is pronounced like “oy” in English “boy,” but with rounded lips and more fronted; roughly [bɔʏ].

• ü (as in Kühe)

  • Say “ee” as in “see,” but round your lips as if you were saying “oo” in “food.”
  • Kühe is roughly “KUE-he” with that rounded ü sound.

These umlaut vowels (ä, ö, ü) are very important for distinguishing word meanings in German.

Why is it Bäuerin and not just Bauerin?

The base word is Bauer (farmer). When you form the feminine with -in, the stem undergoes a vowel change:

• der Bauer → die Bäuerin

This stem umlaut happens in quite a few masculine → feminine person nouns, especially with -er endings:

• der Sänger → die Sängerin (no change here)
• der Bäcker → die Bäckerin (no change)
• der Bauer → die Bäuerin (here you get au → äu).

So Bäuerin is simply the correct, established feminine form of Bauer.

What tense is füttert here, and can it also express ongoing action like English “is feeding”?

Füttert is present tense (Präsens).

In German, the simple present usually covers both:

• English “feeds”
• and “is feeding”

So Die Bäuerin füttert die Kühe im Stall. can mean:

• “The farmer feeds the cows in the barn.”
• or “The farmer is feeding the cows in the barn.”

Context decides whether it’s habitual, current, or scheduled action.

Is there a more gender-neutral way to say Die Bäuerin füttert die Kühe im Stall?

Yes. Common options include:

• Die Bäuerin oder der Bauer füttert die Kühe im Stall.
  → explicitly names both genders.
• Die Bäuerin füttert die Kühe im Stall. / Der Bauer füttert die Kühe im Stall.
  → choose the one that matches context.
• In more formal inclusive writing, you might see:
  
  • Die Bäuer*innen füttern die Kühe im Stall. (plural, gender-inclusive; controversial style, but widely used in some contexts)
• A more neutral occupational term is Landwirt / Landwirtin (“agriculturalist, farmer”).

For a single specific person, everyday spoken German usually just uses der Bauer or die Bäuerin, depending on the actual person.